


Own the Sky

by stardropdream (orphan_account)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-19
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-29 19:39:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/690688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/stardropdream
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>England takes America to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Own the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on LJ April 2, 2010. 
> 
> Written for the usxuk anniversary project! I finally wrote something for one of the little projects over there, I'm so happy. It uses the first theme, "Tourists." I tried to pick a tourist attraction that wasn't completely overused, but if someone's written about this before then fuck me I suck.

“Look, look, look!” America crowed, jumping from one side of the line to the other. “Look, England, I’m in the eastern hemisphere! But, oh snap, now I’m in the western!”   
  
He continued hopping and carrying on until England, grudgingly turned to look at the idiot, his face morphed into a remarkable glare that America thought was just a little too perfect of an epitome of anger—clearly England had been practicing his facial expressions in the mirror. He grinned at England, and continued hoping.   
  
“East. West. East. West.”   
  
“Would you stop that?” England barked. “I didn’t bring you here so you could be a right imbecile about it. Honestly, you child.”   
  
America laughed, and hopped a few more times just to be difficult before bouncing over to England’s side. England stared at him with a thin line of a mouth and looked away with a snort. America squeezed up to his side, grinning and bumping his hip against England before slinking away again.   
  
“Right, right,” America said with a dismissive wave of his hand, walking a few steps before turning around to stare at England, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Why did you bring me here, then?”  
  
“Because you enjoy tourist things,” England said with a disdainful sniff, as if he didn’t enjoy tourist things, either, especially British tourist things. England was an old fogey who liked to get all nostalgic about stuff that happened before America was even born.   
  
“I enjoy a lot of things,” America protested, for the sake of protesting, really.   
  
“Hm.”  
  
“Hey, look England,” America called out, back at the Prime Meridian line again, one foot on either side. “I’m straddling the hemispheres!”   
  
“I suppose you’re enjoying being an idiot,” England drawled, walking over to him.   
  
“Neither side can get enough of me,” America said with a wicked grin.   
  
England snorted. “I'm sincerely hoping you’re aware of your own innuendo.”   
  
It took America a moment before the grin seemed to widen, though this time accompanied by the faintest blush on his face. “Duh. You don’t gotta point it out, England—be subtle.”   
  
“You’re telling me to be subtle,” England drawled, disbelieving, before shaking his head.   
  
“Ya gonna straddle along with me?” America invited.  
  
England puffed up. “You seem to be able to handle it fine on your own. Honestly, no need to be so lewd. You’re hardly the first one to—straddle the hemispheres, as it were.”   
  
America, ever so slightly to the point where England almost didn’t notice it, waggled his hips, the slightest rotation.   
  
England bit back a quiet groan. Why did he do these things to himself?   
  
“It must be lovely to be as simple as you are.”   
  
America laughed, hands on his hips and shifting from side to side, so more of him was on one hemisphere before shifting to the other one. England watched him in silence a moment before, with red cheeks, he had to look away with a quiet grumble.   
  
“You don’t need to get that stuffy about it, ya know,” America teased.   
  
“Shut your mouth, you little twerp,” England muttered, still not looking at him.   
  
Without England’s eyes on him, America soon grew bored of the straddling and hip shaking and relaxed, though both feet remained planted on either side of the line. He studied the line a moment, then around at the quiet little observatory England had taken him to. Greenwich park was pretty enough, and the little hill the observatory was settled on had a nice view of the River Thames, but other than that America couldn’t really think it was too remarkable. His cities were much cooler than England’s cities—his were all old and crusty-looking, America thought, just like England was.   
  
“Bet it’s pretty here at night.”  
  
“Observatories are usually very useful at night, yes,” England muttered, rolling his eyes.   
  
America rocked back and forth on his heels, watching England a moment. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, grew bored, and pulled them out again, patting down his hair and fixing his glasses.   
  
“So why did the meridian end up being here, anyway?” he asked, growing bored of the silence. He hated the silence more than anything, and England was always moody and silent. It made hanging out with him really difficult sometimes.   
  
“I was the center of the world, at the time,” England said quietly, staring down at the line as if speaking with it rather than with America. “I was the center of commerce, center of trade. Everything in the world revolved around the British Empire.” He lifted his head from the line, looking up at the sky a moment before shrugging one shoulder. “It made sense, to have the center be the point from which everything else is measured.”   
  
“Sounds pretty conceited if ya ask me,” America told him.   
  
England snorted. “I’ll assure you that all powerful countries are conceited, America. Power does that to you.”   
  
America wasn’t sure exactly what England was getting at and wasn’t sure if he wanted to, so he entertained himself from hoping back and forth across the line again, chanting ‘east, west, east, west’ every time he did so. He saw England roll his eyes and turn away out of the corner of his eye.   
  
America hoped over to him again, slinging an arm around his shoulder and leaning heavily against him. England’s eyes narrowed and he gave him a hard look that America cheerfully ignored.  
  
“Man, you really do like to get all nostalgic, don’t ya?”   
  
“Hrm,” England grunted, noncommittal.   
  
“Come on, take me through the museum.”   
  
“Go away, do it yourself.”   
  
“Come oooooon,” America whined, leaning more heavily against him and dragging his feet when England attempted to struggle away. “You’re the best tour guide ever—you always say really cool stuff and know all this stuff.”  
  
“It’s to be expected if it’s my history, you moron,” England muttered, but relented and let America drag him off towards the museum portion of the observatory, so he could make his stupid, foolish faces (England’s words, not America’s) at Harrison’s marine chronometer and the like. By the end of the day, England even looked less grumpy.

**Author's Note:**

> \- The Observatory at Greenwich, London is now a museum and tourist attraction, but back in the day was, as the title suggests, an observatory.
> 
> \- It's also where the Prime Meridian is located, the 0 degree longtiude of the world, where all other longitudes are measured from. It's also the location for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), also now referred to as universal time (UTC).
> 
> \- The Prime Meridian was established in 1851, and marked by a brass line in the courtyard of the observatory (now today stainless steel I think?). England was chosen as the location for the meridian as it was at the height of its empire and was, as England said in the fic, the center of the world, so to speak, as everyone traded and docked in England. London was very much the center of trade for a long time.


End file.
